Meeting schedule rearranged...WHY?

by sir82 51 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  sir82

  Official speculation thread...

  Even if a reason is given for the meeting rearrangement when it is announced on 4/27, we all know how the Society spins things (e.g., Awake magazine being reduced to one issue per month to "put more emphasis on the Bible" )...the reason given won't be the real reason.

  So why is the Society doing this? On the surface, it seems to be a loosening of control. One less evening tied up per week, one less position of authority in the congregation (if no more private CBS's, no more CBSO's), reduced meeting time at the Service meeting (when they usually do their most forceful scolding of the flock), etc.

  But "loosening of control" seems to fly in the face of the micromanagement climate of the past decade or so (you vill not go to college, you vill stay at the recommended hotels, you vill not join Myspace, you vill dress like a 19th century schoolmarm when visiting Bethel, etc.).

  So what gives? What's the real reason behind this apparent loosening of the bonds? Whatever it is, "concern for the publishers" is assuredly not it.

  Any ideas out there? I'm stumped.
• 

  truthseeker

  Sir82,

  You can be sure that the Society will replace any time lost from meeting restructuring to field service time.

  I was talking about this with a friend last night.

  It simply won't work to have all bookstudys at the Hall - where congregations already share a hall, this would create chaos.

  The logical assumption is that there will be one less evening to get dressed for.
• 

  Meeting Junkie No More

  I think it's because they're starting to realize that by their words, they will be hanging themselves, and the less said, the better. Pretty soon the meetings will be simply "Praise the Lord". That way, you give apostates and thinkers less to take apart. Haven't we all noticed that any info in the new paperbacks is less and less "meat" and more generic. There is so much Biblical scholarship out there these days that if they say too much of anything, it will be easy to dissect and critique. This way, there is less time to fill - a win/win (in their opinion). By the way, I think this is a GREAT DEVELOPMENT! Total implosion is on its way!
• 

  lrkr

  See my post on another thread:

  More centralized control of the message. Less chance for apostate thinking to arise at small group studies.
• 

  Meeting Junkie No More

  lrker:

  What message? I think that's the problem. There isn't even a message anymore. AMEN!
• 

  OnTheWayOut

  Well, which is better-
  1. a hall half-full of staunch JW's who will say "YES MASTER" to anything
  the WT prints
  
  OR
  
  2. a hall jammed full of JW's because all the casual, independent-minded
  ones will actually show up to fill the other half of the seats?

  Down the road, you can't replace those staunch JW's as they die off, but
  you can fill the hall with less staunch ones and try to get their money.

  ---

  Let's look at the money situation. It doesn't cost the Borg any money to
  make the switch, and it makes it look like they are doing SOMETHING to
  address the daily problems of the members.

  They studied the REVELATION-GRAND CLIMAX (love that title) 4 times, so
  they must not be wanting to print too many new books. One way to save costs
  and reduce boredom is to stop covering so much material at the meetings.
  No need to publish more new books and no need to cover a book again and again.
  Just shorten the meeting and reduce the load of the books.
  
  Oh, and elders quitting the princely work- I am sure that the vast majority of home
  bookstudies are in elders' homes. This removes that burden. It frees up many
  elders from another chore of preparing to conduct a meeting and allows elders who
  just want to do their 10 minute part each week to stay on. They gotta keep the
  elders numbers up if they want someone to promote their doctrine.
• 

  DT

  I don't know why they are making this change, but I am pretty sure the timing is intended to distract from the doctrinal change about the generation.
• 

  OnTheWayOut

  OR

  Even the Governing Body is bored out of their minds with the stupid meetings and
  just want to keep shaking things up so that they have something to do.

  I think they are bracing everyone for constant changes as they try to figure out how
  to get some positive cashflow. I expect that they are going to keep changing things
  and distract the members with all these new and exciting changes. The things the
  members will not pay as much attention to will be
  1. New GB members.
  2. New decisions on how to handle the congregation bank accounts at Headquarters.
  3. The continual effort to reduce the cost of the product offered in the field.
  4. Closing all facilities in Brooklyn.
  5. The bitterness of the reassigned Bethelites to local congregations as Spec. Pioneers.
• 

  OnTheWayOut

  I don't know why they are making this change, but I am pretty sure the timing is intended to distract from the doctrinal change about the generation.

  Now you are thinking like a genius.

  "What do you think of the new doctrine?"

  "Forget that, what about the meeting change?"
• 

  cabasilas

  The WT Society is rather pragmatic organization. I'm laying betts that one of the chief reasons they're doing this is because of potential legal problems of having an official meeting of the congregation in a private home. Either there's been a lawsuit about this or they're worried about some future lawsuit stemming from some incident happening at a book study location. Kind of sad. When I was in, I enjoyed the more family atmosphere at the CBS.